Friends.

This week at The Studio Challenges we have a Tic Tac Toe challenge.

I personally love this sort of challenge as it's so easy to incorporate into any scrappers style.

Above is the grid showing the options and I'm sure you all know how to play (choose a set of three stash items in a row, column or diagonal).

I went for Gold, Blossom and Stitching.

I did get a tad carried away with the stitching! I had already misted the background with gold mist and hexagon mask but it didn't have the wow factor I was going for, so......out came the needle and thread!

Some more gold with these adorable flip flops!

Now I have a confession to make, I completely forgot about the blossom part of my choice! So caught up in the gold and stitching that by the time I had finished I realised that something was missing. So as the papers I was using had tiny flower prints I fussy cut one out to add into the design.

I realised afterwards that I had also added a couple of the other options in the Tic Tac Toe grid, sequins and die-cut. Just goes to show what a great choice there was for me!!

So the only thing to do now is to invite you to play along with us!

Hop on over to the Studio Challenges blog for more scrappy inspiration and for all the details on how to join in.

Thanks for dropping by. 

Hugs

Kerry. xx

Rainy Day Post.

(image source)

Today is a cold, wet, and windy Wednesday!

Whilst I am here in the dry I thought I would share a couple of layouts with you that I created recently for no reason but for the pleasure of scrapbooking!

I hardly do blog challenges anymore, reserving my time for the ones that 'speak' to me. I have been enjoying my new indulgence - Like Forever Kit Club, although with my determination to sort my albums out, last month's kit lays relatively untouched!

Still, I have a weekend crop to look forward to this weekend, sharing inspiration and CAKE with my dear crafty friends! Hopefully mojo and me will have a wonderful, creative time!

The following pages were both done using the 'Oh So Lovely' Kit of which I have very little left. I think this is my favourite kit to date mostly because it had lots of kitty embellishment!

This first layout was created for a sketch challenge on the LFE Facebook group and features our car Ginger helping me in the garden!

A close up of the banner.

This PL card was not part of the kit but in my attempt to use some of my cards I thought it worked quite well here. The puffy stickers were one of my favourite elements of the kit.

Again this page features today's cutest star asleep in a flower pot (a large flower pot!).

I seem to manage to get so much scrapping done from each kit, I think so far I have made ten layouts from this one and still have more paper left! 

The top cluster close-up.

Loved the felt hearts.

We had a bunch of paper clips in different shapes but this cute house one was my favourite!

I am currently waiting for my grocery delivery which will be here any moment, so I will say goodbye for today and I will be back with a post on Sunday. (if not before!).

Thanks as always for stopping by.

Hugs

Kerry. xx

  

Happy Birthday Friend.

It was my dear friend Helen's Birthday this month whilst she was away in sunny Egypt, so I made her card before she went as she was taking her cards to open whilst away.

I thought that I would share the card here as I was really pleased how it turned out.

This quote was originally for daughter but I changed it to read 'Friend'.

I did a bit of mist splattering under the wooden and fussy cut butterflies and although it's probably not clear on this photo but the blue card is shiny.

I hope to be back soon with some scrapping to share, but as I am still re-organising my photo's, paper and albums I may get caught up in that.

Thanks for dropping in.

Hugs 

Kerry. xx

Mid- Life!

I turned 50 this year!

There I said it out loud.

It sounds old to be 50 but really I feel no different, the saying - 'you are as young as you feel' still applies as it has done for me for many a year. Unfortunately that saying now come with health and safety warnings! 

Now with this new era of my life I find myself looking around at different aspects of it and needing to change a lot of things around, redecorating and generally having a good sort out. Joining new groups and wanting to visit those places around the world I still haven't discovered (even thinking about cruises!).

As I intend to live until around the 100 years mark I feel that this could therefore be called my mid-life crisis! Although to be fair it's not so much a crisis as a re-evaluation (play it down Kerry!).

Next year will be the year for re-designing my garden, decorating my bedroom and meeting some new friends at the first Like Forever Retreat.

With the new upheaval I am determined to sort, date and re-home ALL my scrapbook pages!

Of course when I say 're-home' I don't mean they are going to leave my home just a big re-shuffle.

I have removed every page and emptied every album so that I can sort them into chronological order which for me is a mammoth task that I have been putting off for years!

I haven't had enough albums so have been storing my finished layouts in old pizza boxes and I am REALLY bad at finishing off the pages with journaling and dates!

I tried sorting them on my bed but just didn't have the room for all the year piles, so....

Pizza boxes!

I smiled sweetly at my local pizza takeaway and bought 20 boxes and dated them all for the past 20 years.

All my loose pages (now stored upright in a cupboard) are now in the process of being sorted into the dated boxes. Each page is checked for date and journaling, some of the pre-digital are proving difficult to date! Then placed into their relevant box. 

I have ordered some new albums in anticipation of this task being completed in the next week or so and look forward to having order restored!

I will keep you posted!

Until we meet again.

Hugs

Kerry. xx

Snug As A Bug.

What a beautiful day it is this fine Sunday, the sun is shining and I spent the morning down my allotment to do some tidying and cropping (of vegetables not paper!). I have melted some beads to make enamel dot type embellishments and done my ironing - not bad for a days work!

But let's get onto something more to my liking - a bit of crafty fun!

This is October's super inspiring sketch challenge over at The Studio Challenges!

Here is my take on this sketch and as you can see I kept to the basic shape but added some paper strips top and bottom because the center element looked a bit lost in the middle!

This photo is of my youngest DD fourteen years ago! (I am currently trying to scrap some of my older photo's.)

The papers and embellishments for this page are all from this month's kit at Like Forever which incorporates Pink Paislee's Cedar Lane. Such a beautiful line with Autumnal colours and gold accents!  

The strips in the bottom right of the sketch have been shifted over to the left to balance out my title, which was part glitter thickers (part of the kit) and letter stickers (from my stash.)

I couldn't resist fussy cutting one of the big flowers out, they caught my eye as soon as I saw the preview for the kit. 

I recently bought some clear dome stickers from Ebay so punching out a flower to adhere to one made for a quick and satisfying embellishment.

I am sure you love the look of this sketch and are dying to play along - but before you go don't forget to see the other DT examples of this challenge. 

Lots of inspiration to be had on the Studio Challenges blog right HERE.

Selfie @ 12604 ft.

Autumn in England is coming in like a lamb, warm sunny days are still the norm and I love the colours in nature that the sun highlights. Some of the veg at my allotment are still happily growing and I'm happily cropping them!

Anyway onto scrapping...

Scrap The Girls has a beautiful inspiration board to challenge us with this month and I couldn't resist playing along. 

Here it is, just look at the yummy colour combo!

I based my layout on the colours in the board choosing different shades of pinks, turquoise and a touch of orange and grey.

I loved this selfie my eldest DD took whilst up a mountain in the French Alps last summer, hence the height reference in the title! The camera overcompensated on the contrast but you can just make out the snow covered mountain in the background!

I cut the 'selfie' using my Silhouette and the rest are Sn@p letter stickers.

Just a quick gander at the top cluster with some melted Hamma beads that didn't quite melt as I had hoped but look kind of cute anyway!

There is lots of stunning inspiration to be drooled over from the Scrap The Girls DT so head on over to the blog and check them out HERE!

Thanks for stopping by again today.

Hugs 

Kerry. xx

Quiet on the Essex Front.

It's been a bit quiet around here in my little corner of Essex, mundane things have been taking up my time. (You know how it is!). 

I had a little play with  my Silhouette last night - transferred some of my fonts from computer to the laptop that I use for my designing. I managed to design a couple of cut files so hope to have a play later this evening and maybe get some scrapping time in.

In the mean time I have a couple of double pages to share with you that I created earlier (in a Blue Peter kind of way!). 

When I have had a run of creating layouts, say at a weekend crop, I like to keep some by for when my poor little blog has seen busier times! I have been creating but some have been for DT work and some for magazine commissions that I can't share just yet.

Here we go then......

These photo's were all taken in Switzerland last summer and were had stopped off at one of the restaurants on the way to the top of a mountain. The views were astounding and it seemed strange to be drinking beer and playing cards with glaciers behind us!  

I love the left photo on this page, I managed to snap it quick just as the train was pulling up to the station to take us up the mountain. 

The title was cut with my Silhouette as were the clouds and sun.

This was a fabulous place with a spectacular wooden cabin for the restaurant and a band stand where Swiss musicians played local music to us whilst we ate.

I am still trying to find where I got this free cut file from and when I do I will post a link here for it.

This next double layout shows the photo's I took at the top of this mountain, a place called Schynige Platte where an Alpine flower garden had been laid and the photo's don't do it justice!

There we were at the top of the world (or so it seemed!) surrounded by jugged mountains, glaciers and beautiful flowers, hard to beat!  

The left side.

I used one of my favourite paper lines, Dear Lizzy Polka Dot Party. The colours and pretty floral papers were perfect for these photo's.

This is the right side of the double.

...and a few close ups.

I usually struggle with double pages as I much prefer single layouts but sometimes I just take too many photo's! 

Thank you for visiting with me again today and I hope you have a wonderful weekend whatever you are up to.

Hugs

Kerry. xx